Truth in My Eyes
by JeiC
Summary: In order to do what needed to be done, I had to hide the truth from my eyes, but there is one that I know and I can't turn away from.


Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is still owned by Square Enix and Disney. I'm just someone with an overactive imagination that writes silly stories.  
Warnings: angst

**Truth in My Eyes**

by JeiC

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Laying stationary for a moment, I take inventory of myself, making sure that I'm all still here since I took the brunt of the explosion from Ansem the Wise's Kingdom Hearts encoder. I could hear the others moving, but I couldn't see. Did the light blind me? I know I'm lying face down…

"Riku?!" I heard Sora cry. Forcing my muscles into some action, I pushed myself up on my forearms, realizing that my blindness wasn't due to the light or that my face was buried into the ground. The fabric across my eyes gave me something of hope…hope that maybe I no longer looked like Xenahort's Heartless. Finally getting to my hands and knees, my friend calls my name again, and I begin to wonder if my hopes were going to be shattered. They all seemed to need to call me by my true name in order to remind themselves that I wasn't who I looked like.

Looking in the general direction I knew the others were, I hear a couple of wows and Kairi calling my name, excitement in her voice, and the truth of my return to my true form comes with long bangs brushing my face.

"Ansem did say 'anything could happen,'" King Mickey confirmed as I looked around, needing to feel the brush of my hair against my face since I couldn't see it.

Standing up, I turn to face where Xemnas had taken off. I suddenly started feeling less alienated from the others just being back in my true form, but did I really deserve this gift?

"Riku, you gonna take that off?" It was an innocent question as any, but it took me a moment to realize what Sora was talking about. I really no longer had a use for the blindfold…it had served its purpose, but again, did I deserve to see again as the others do?

Though, I suppose my spiky-haired friend wouldn't let me continue otherwise. "Oh…" I comment as if having forgotten I was wearing it, pulling it off with no haste, but neither taking my time either.

Blinking, it takes me a minute to acclimate once again to light being entering in my eyes. My friend seems to have yet another simple question that happens to have a complex answer, "What was that?"

Hearing someone approaching behind me, I turn around as the King answers for me, "His eyes couldn't lie."

"Lie?" the confusion evident in the Keyblade master's voice. "And just who were you trying to fool? Huh? Huhhh?" Sora placed his hands on his hips, making one of his unique weird stances that just never came across as intimidating no matter how hard he tried.

"Myself," I answer quickly. There's no denying that fact. I had to hide the truth from myself in order to do what needed to be done.

"Riku…" the spiky-haired brunet backed away. I knew eventually he'd reject me for what I did. Steeling myself for the harsh words that I knew were to come, he surprised me again, "C'mon, man! Why did you try to do so much on your own?" As if to make his next point, I watch him run over to the others from whom I had stood separated, "You've got friends…like us!"

It took me a minute to take in what was being offered to me, irregardless of my past actions, it seems. Why? Why don't they hate me? They all know the truth about what I did. Shifting back into my old attitude slightly to cover for my lapse, I throw back at my friend, "Have you forgotten? I'll tell you why. 'Cause I'm not a total sap like you."

"Say that again!" Oh, how I knew that would get a rise out of him. Too bad I did speak the truth about him being a total sap…too bad for Sora that is.

This feels right…feels normal…feels true.

But the truth is, I still can't go back even after we defeat Xemnas. It'll be hard to explain to everyone, but hopefully, they'll understand.

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Fin  
September 2007  
by JeiC  
---  
Author's notes: Just another prompt…

**For:** 20heartbeats  
**Claim:** Riku  
**Prompt:** Truth (#17)


End file.
